Page Speed Optimization

7 Reasons Your Website Is Slow 

Site speed is a critical issue that can be fixed. In most cases, without a complete redesign of your website. That is the good news. 

But did you know that every time your team adds content to your website, you may be slowing down your load speed? And you have to keep adding content monthly to sustain your website traffic? 

We know.  It’s frustrating. 

From the framework to high volumes of website traffic, here are the reasons why your website could be running on turtle time: 

1. Outdated CMS

If your webmaster is busy, he may not remember to update versions for CMS. You know those annoying reminders from WordPress?  People are often unaware of how vital CMS updates are. And it’s not uncommon for some websites to require a year or two of updates. 

Incomplete updates pile up. Not the updates themselves, but the bugs in the software that cause known issues. Some symptoms of outdated CMS include security vulnerabilities and increased website loading time. 

2. Not Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Do you know where your host server is located? If you have your internal server onsite, that answer was easy. Now, do you know where your customers are located? Because if they live far away from your host server, your website will render more slowly for that person. 

A content delivery network is a service that can help you increase your website speed. A CDN provides a way to distribute the content of your web pages from other server locations. Specifically, a location geographically closest to your website visitor. 

It is faster that way.  Also, content delivery networks (CDNs) can provide an added layer of security against intrusions (hacks) and DDOS attacks.

3. Problems With Website Caching 

You know how Google saves websites that you have already visited? If you go to that website frequently, you’ll notice that it loads quickly from your search or bookmarks. That is because the data has already been cached. 

Caching happens in five ways:

• Browser Cache
• DNS Cache 
• CDN
• Static Page Cache
• Object Cache

Caching is the process of storing copies in a temporary folder or storage location. This makes for a faster loading time because the copy (cache) already exists in a compressed format. Website pages load lightning fast when caching is optimized. 

4. Large Media Files 

Depending on the design theme of your website, large media files could be dragging your website speed down. But you need images on your website to create the experience for your customers. And for e-commerce sites, they are mandatory, providing product catalogs for online shopping. 

Images make people happy. And happy people who visit your website mean business growth. Media files, including large images and video content, can be optimized to reduce the drag on your website without compromising visual appeal.

5. Excessive Plugins

Do a quick Google search for “WordPress Plugin,” and you’ll get over 200M results. Developers worldwide are constantly creating new software integrations and tools for WordPress users. And they can be very useful. 

Want to make your website work harder? Provide more analytics, cool pop-up windows, or add cart abandonment and remarketing tools? There is a plug-in (or a thousand of them) you can install. 

But the problem is that the more active the code you are running, each plug-in you add to your WordPress website. Think about a room with three people talking. That is a healthy number of website plug-ins. Now imagine the same room with sixty people talking. It’s a little loud, and a lot is going on simultaneously. 

Now you know how a WordPress website feels when it has too many plugins. And that can slow your website speed to a crawl, particularly if you have old plugins that have not been updated or a collection of unused tools that need to be uninstalled. 

6. Quality of Hosting 

Who you choose to host your website matters. Because if your website is hosted with a shared plan, that can be like having a lot of roommates. Who consequently eats your bandwidth and can slow down your website speed. 

Hosting is a common but most overlooked cause of slow load and website speed. There are many options to upgrade to a private or dedicated server. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s worth it. 

7. A Web of Redirects 

Just like plugins on a WordPress website, redirects are snippets of code constantly working in the background. Automatically redirecting a customer who lands on an old page to a new location requires a nudge. 

Chained redirects (if too many of them) not only slow down your speed like a Sunday driver but also harm your SEO because Google and other search engines do not like them. 

Supercharge With Monthly Site Speed Optimization 

We have an affordable solution if you do not have a full-time webmaster on your team to handle important monthly website maintenance. Matt Kundo Digital Marketing provides professional site speed optimization and monthly maintenance care.

Keep your website performing like a Tesla Roadster with these monthly essentials:

• Automated Image Compression and sizing
• On-demand Object Rendering (Lazy Loading)
• Lossy and Lossless Compression
• CSS and HTML Minification and Compression
• Removal of Unused Plugins and CSS 
• Browser Caching
• Optimized Font Delivery
• Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Mobile & Desktop Optimization 
• Site Speed Performance Audits 
• High-Speed Website Hosting and Reporting
• Core Web Vitals Assessment

If your website bounce rate is up and traffic is going down, it’s time to see if website speed is creating a problem. Schedule your Site Speed Audit with Matt Kundo Digital Marketing.